Method for resource sharing in video teleconferences

ABSTRACT

A method of resource sharing in a teleconference involves detecting a presentation of a first resource by a participant of the teleconference, determining a locator for the first resource, in response to the detecting of the first resource, generating a functioning link to the first resource based on the locator, and sending the functioning link to the first resource to another participant to be displayed in a user interface of the teleconference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

One or more implementations relate to the field of teleconference; andmore specifically, to a method and system for sharing resources during avideo teleconference.

BACKGROUND ART

Video teleconferences involve the exchange of video and audio betweenparticipants that are each using a client application or program toparticipate in the video teleconference. The video teleconferenceapplications can be stand-alone applications or can be browser basedapplications. The video teleconferences enable the exchange of audio andvideo streams between the participants enabling each participant to seeand hear the other participants. In some cases, the videoteleconferences can be supported by video teleconference services thatfacilitate the creation and exchange of the video conferencing sessions.In other cases, the video conferencing sessions are entirely peer topeer communications between the participant client applications.

Video teleconference applications can also support additional functionsand features to facilitate collaboration amongst the participants. Oneadditional function that is often provided is a presentation mode. Inthe presentation mode, one of the participants can share a screen orwindow from their user device. This feature is often utilized to enablea presentation of a slide show or similar document. However, the sharingof the presentation of the slides or document is entirely a video andaudio presentation. The other participants do not have access or a copyof the underlying slides or documents. To share such slides ordocuments, the presenter would typically email the slides or documentsto the other participants as attachments that the other participants candownload and access.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following figures use like reference numbers to refer to likeelements. Although the following figures depict various exampleimplementations, alternative implementations are within the spirit andscope of the appended claims. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of one example of a video teleconference applicationinterface, according to some implementations.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of one example of the architecture of a videoteleconference services, according to some implementations.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of one example of the operation of the resourcesharing function, according to some implementations.

FIG. 4A is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device accordingto some example implementations.

FIG. 4B is a block diagram of a deployment environment according to someexample implementations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description describes implementations for resource sharingin a video teleconference session. During video teleconference sessionswhen one participant is presenting and visiting multiple webpages, orshowing multiple documents, the other participants would also like toaccess those webpages at the same time to view or interact with thewebpage in more depth. Similarly, a presented document can be sharedautomatically with the other participants or made available at a sharedlocation. Presenters when displaying their screen in videoteleconference can switch on resource sharing in the user interface ofthe video teleconference application. When resource sharing is enabled,then any website or document that the presenter visits or accesses canbe shared with the other participants of the video teleconferencesession, allowing the other participants to click on it if they wish.The locator for the resource can be displayed in a chat window or in aseparate side bar. In some implementations, it is possible to eitheronly display the current resource locator that the presenter is on, or arunning history of the resources throughout the meeting can begenerated. Presenters can turn off link sharing to stop sharing resourcelocators with participants at any time.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of one example of a video teleconference applicationinterface, according to some implementations. The video teleconferenceapplication 100 in this example is part of a browser implementation. Thevideo teleconference application includes a set of participants 103A,103B. Any number of participants can be supported by the videoteleconference service. The participants can each share their own audioand video streams that can be captured by their respective user devicesand accessories (e.g., web cameras, headsets, microphones, and similaraccessories).

Any one of the participants can initiate a presentation 101. In theillustrated example, the host presenter 103B shares his screen to show awebpage that provides a calendar service. The presenter 103B has alsoselected via a user interface element 105 to automatically shareresource locators. The enablement of the resource sharing functionwhether as a function of a client application or a plug-in for abrowser, monitors the presentation 101 to detect resources being shownand shares a locator for those resources. In this example, a uniformresource locator (URL) 107 is automatically displayed in a chat windowfor the other participants to utilize to access the same resource. Inthe illustrated example, the resource locator is an active URL formattedas a hypertext transmission protocol (HTTP) link to enable eachparticipant to immediately activate the link.

In the example implementation, the resource locator is presented in achat window in chronological order with the ongoing chat betweenparticipants. In other implementations, the resource locator can beplaced in a separate interface window, such as a resource locator log,where a participant can similarly select a navigable link to open theshared resource. In some implementations, the resource sharing functioncan also be configured to prompt the presenting participant upondetecting each resource being presented to confirm the sharing of theresource and to confirm the accuracy of the locator (e.g., a URL).

FIG. 2 is a diagram of one example of the architecture of a videoteleconference services, according to some implementations. In theillustrated example, a video teleconference system with hosted functionsor support is shown. In a peer to peer implementation, theteleconference service 203 at a server 201 can be omitted. In theillustrated example implementation, a set of user devices 213A-C isparticipating in a teleconference session.

Each user device 213A-C executes either a browser 215A or 215B or adedicated client application 219. A browser 215A or 215B implementationcan utilize a plug-in 217A or 217B or similar set of code to provide theresource location sharing features described herein. In other cases, theresource sharing functions 221 can be discrete or embedded functions ina client application 219 that provides teleconference services. Each ofthese implementations is inter-compatible. The resource sharing plug-insand functions can send resource locators to each of the participants ina teleconference session. In some implementations, the resource sharingplug-ins 217A or 217B and resource sharing functions 221 can communicatewith one another via a side channel to share resource locators andmanage a log of the resource locators for a teleconference session. Insome implementations, the resource sharing plug-ins 217A or 217B and/orresource sharing functions 221 can upload copies of shared resources toa teleconference service 203 or similar location to facilitate thesharing of the resource during a teleconference session.

The user devices 213A-C can communicate with one another over a network211. The network can be the Internet or other similar wide area network(WAN). In other cases, the network can be a local area network (LAN).Any combination of network types can be combined to form the network 211to enable the exchange of the shared locators between the user devices213A-C. For example, in some cases at least one of the user devices213A-C is a mobile device such as a smartphone that is connected to acellular telecommunications network. At least one of the other userdevices 213A-C can be connected to a wired or wireless home or businessnetwork. The network 211 can in such cases encompass combination of theInternet Service Provider network and the cellular telecommunicationsnetwork as well as any intermediate networks.

In implementations, where a teleconference service 203 is present, theteleconference service 203 can be hosted by a server 201 or a set ofservers. A ‘set,’ as used herein can refer to any positive whole numberof items including one item. The teleconference service 203 canfacilitate the establishment of a teleconference session by exchangingsession information between the participants. In some cases, theteleconference service 203 can manage or direct the handling of datapackets for the teleconference session. In some implementations, theteleconference service 203 can host shared resources and provide alocator for accessing these shared resources during the teleconferencesession. The shared resource can be stored at a location managed by theteleconference service 203.

In other implementations, the teleconference service 203 can be hostedby a server in a cloud computing environment. The cloud computingenvironment can host any number of teleconference services 203 includingscenarios where the teleconference services 203 are instances perteleconference session and distributed over the cloud computingenvironment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of one example of the operation of the resourcesharing function, according to some implementations. In someimplementations, the teleconference clients can trigger the sharedresource functions or plug-ins, when a user toggles on the support forthe resource sharing (Block 301). The shared resource functions andplug-ins when enabled monitor for a participant to initiate apresentation (Block 303). Presentations can be initiated by aparticipant selecting a user interface element of sharing a screen,window, or similar element. The initiation of a presentation cangenerate an event that is captured by the shared resource function orplug-in or modify a data structure that tracks the state of theteleconference session that can be detected by the shared resourcefunction of plug-in. In other implementations, the shared resourcefunction or plug-in can modify the coding of the presentation functionsto generate a notification or similar detectable state change.

When the shared resource function or plug-in detects the initiation of apresentation, then the shared resource function or plug-in can monitoruser input or navigation selections to identify a locator for eachwebsite or document that is presented (Block 305). The shared resourcethat is shared can be any one or more of a website, document, a slideshow, an image, a video, or similar media. In some implementations, theshared resource function of plug-in can directly read an address in abrowser, file navigator, or similar application to obtain an address orlocator for the shared resource. In other implementations, the sharedresource function or plug-in can ‘scrape’ the video stream of thepresentation by doing image recognition, character recognition andsimilar techniques to identify an address, path, or similar locator(e.g., a URL, file name and path, or similar locator).

The shared resource function or plug-in can compare each detected sharedresource locator with previously detected shared resource locators toensure that each shared resource is unique (Block 307). The comparisonof the shared resource locator can be a complete or partial matchbetween a newly detected shared resource locator and a log of priordetected shared resource locators in the current teleconference session.A partial match can be utilized to identify a base or home website ordocument where navigation within the website or document can be part ofthe URL. These partial matches can be discarded in some implementationsto prevent a spamming of shared resource locators to the participants.For example, if a prior shared resource locator waswww.calendar.com/joe, then subsequent shared resource locators forwww.calendar.com/joe/january and www.calendar.com/joe/february could bediscarded due to the partial match of the base of the shared locatorwhere additions to the ‘base’ shared locator are not considered newshared resources.

If the detected shared resource locator is identified as new, then theshared resource locator can be verified as accessible by requesting oraccessing the shared resource. In some cases, where the shared resourceis a document, the shared resource can be uploaded to the teleconferenceservice and a shared resource locator can be generated (Block 309). Oncethe shared resource locator is determined it can be converted into alink or similar mechanism for access (Block 311). For example, a webpage URL can be prefaced with an HTTP designator and shared locators canbe similarly converted (e.g., into file transfer protocol (FTP) links orsimilar accessible links). The converted shared resource locator canthen be sent to the other participants of the teleconference session(Block 313). The shared resource locator can be sent in an existing chatwindow using the communication links established for that chat window.In other implementations, the shared resource locator can be shared in aseparate channel and displayed in a separate share resource log.

Example Electronic Devices and Environments

Electronic Device and Machine-Readable Media

One or more parts of the above implementations may include software.Software is a general term whose meaning can range from part of the codeand/or metadata of a single computer program to the entirety of multipleprograms. A computer program (also referred to as a program) comprisescode and optionally data. Code (sometimes referred to as computerprogram code or program code) comprises software instructions (alsoreferred to as instructions). Instructions may be executed by hardwareto perform operations. Executing software includes executing code, whichincludes executing instructions. The execution of a program to perform atask involves executing some or all of the instructions in that program.

An electronic device (also referred to as a device, computing device,computer, etc.) includes hardware and software. For example, anelectronic device may include a set of one or more processors coupled toone or more machine-readable storage media (e.g., non-volatile memorysuch as magnetic disks, optical disks, read only memory (ROM), Flashmemory, phase change memory, solid state drives (SSDs)) to store codeand optionally data. For instance, an electronic device may includenon-volatile memory (with slower read/write times) and volatile memory(e.g., dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), static random-access memory(SRAM)). Non-volatile memory persists code/data even when the electronicdevice is turned off or when power is otherwise removed, and theelectronic device copies that part of the code that is to be executed bythe set of processors of that electronic device from the non-volatilememory into the volatile memory of that electronic device duringoperation because volatile memory typically has faster read/write times.As another example, an electronic device may include a non-volatilememory (e.g., phase change memory) that persists code/data when theelectronic device has power removed, and that has sufficiently fastread/write times such that, rather than copying the part of the code tobe executed into volatile memory, the code/data may be provided directlyto the set of processors (e.g., loaded into a cache of the set ofprocessors). In other words, this non-volatile memory operates as bothlong term storage and main memory, and thus the electronic device mayhave no or only a small amount of volatile memory for main memory.

In addition to storing code and/or data on machine-readable storagemedia, typical electronic devices can transmit and/or receive codeand/or data over one or more machine-readable transmission media (alsocalled a carrier) (e.g., electrical, optical, radio, acoustical or otherforms of propagated signals—such as carrier waves, and/or infraredsignals). For instance, typical electronic devices also include a set ofone or more physical network interface(s) to establish networkconnections (to transmit and/or receive code and/or data usingpropagated signals) with other electronic devices. Thus, an electronicdevice may store and transmit (internally and/or with other electronicdevices over a network) code and/or data with one or moremachine-readable media (also referred to as computer-readable media).

Software instructions (also referred to as instructions) are capable ofcausing (also referred to as operable to cause and configurable tocause) a set of processors to perform operations when the instructionsare executed by the set of processors. The phrase “capable of causing”(and synonyms mentioned above) includes various scenarios (orcombinations thereof), such as instructions that are always executedversus instructions that may be executed. For example, instructions maybe executed: 1) only in certain situations when the larger program isexecuted (e.g., a condition is fulfilled in the larger program; an eventoccurs such as a software or hardware interrupt, user input (e.g., akeystroke, a mouse-click, a voice command); a message is published,etc.); or 2) when the instructions are called by another program or partthereof (whether or not executed in the same or a different process,thread, lightweight thread, etc.). These scenarios may or may notrequire that a larger program, of which the instructions are a part, becurrently configured to use those instructions (e.g., may or may notrequire that a user enables a feature, the feature or instructions beunlocked or enabled, the larger program is configured using data and theprogram's inherent functionality, etc.). As shown by these exemplaryscenarios, “capable of causing” (and synonyms mentioned above) does notrequire “causing” but the mere capability to cause. While the term“instructions” may be used to refer to the instructions that whenexecuted cause the performance of the operations described herein, theterm may or may not also refer to other instructions that a program mayinclude. Thus, instructions, code, program, and software are capable ofcausing operations when executed, whether the operations are alwaysperformed or sometimes performed (e.g., in the scenarios describedpreviously). The phrase “the instructions when executed” refers to atleast the instructions that when executed cause the performance of theoperations described herein but may or may not refer to the execution ofthe other instructions.

Electronic devices are designed for and/or used for a variety ofpurposes, and different terms may reflect those purposes (e.g., userdevices, network devices). Some user devices are designed to mainly beoperated as servers (sometimes referred to as server devices), whileothers are designed to mainly be operated as clients (sometimes referredto as client devices, client computing devices, client computers, or enduser devices; examples of which include desktops, workstations, laptops,personal digital assistants, smartphones, wearables, augmented reality(AR) devices, virtual reality (VR) devices, mixed reality (MR) devices,etc.). The software executed to operate a user device (typically aserver device) as a server may be referred to as server software orserver code), while the software executed to operate a user device(typically a client device) as a client may be referred to as clientsoftware or client code. A server provides one or more services (alsoreferred to as serves) to one or more clients.

The term “user” refers to an entity (e.g., an individual person) thatuses an electronic device. Software and/or services may use credentialsto distinguish different accounts associated with the same and/ordifferent users. Users can have one or more roles, such asadministrator, programmer/developer, and end user roles. As anadministrator, a user typically uses electronic devices to administerthem for other users, and thus an administrator often works directlyand/or indirectly with server devices and client devices.

FIG. 4A is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device 400according to some example implementations. FIG. 4A includes hardware 420comprising a set of one or more processor(s) 422, a set of one or morenetwork interfaces 424 (wireless and/or wired), and machine-readablemedia 426 having stored therein software 428 (which includesinstructions executable by the set of one or more processor(s) 422). Themachine-readable media 426 may include non-transitory and/or transitorymachine-readable media. Each of the previously described clients and theresource sharing service may be implemented in one or more electronicdevices 400. In one implementation: 1) each of the clients isimplemented in a separate one of the electronic devices 400 (e.g., inend user devices where the software 428 represents the software toimplement clients to interface directly and/or indirectly with theresource sharing service (e.g., software 428 represents a web browser, anative client, a portal, a command-line interface, and/or an applicationprogramming interface (API) based upon protocols such as Simple ObjectAccess Protocol (SOAP), Representational State Transfer (REST), etc.));2) the resource sharing service is implemented in a separate set of oneor more of the electronic devices 400 (e.g., a set of one or more serverdevices where the software 428 represents the software to implement theresource sharing service); and 3) in operation, the electronic devicesimplementing the clients and the resource sharing service would becommunicatively coupled (e.g., by a network) and would establish betweenthem (or through one or more other layers and/or or other services)connections for submitting input to the resource sharing service andreturning active resource links or locators to the clients. Otherconfigurations of electronic devices may be used in otherimplementations (e.g., an implementation in which the client and theresource sharing service are implemented on a single one of electronicdevice 400).

During operation, an instance of the software 428 (illustrated asinstance 406 and referred to as a software instance; and in the morespecific case of an application, as an application instance) isexecuted. In electronic devices that use compute virtualization, the setof one or more processor(s) 422 typically execute software toinstantiate a virtualization layer 408 and one or more softwarecontainer(s) 404A-404R (e.g., with operating system-levelvirtualization, the virtualization layer 408 may represent a containerengine (such as Docker Engine by Docker, Inc. or rkt in Container Linuxby Red Hat, Inc.) running on top of (or integrated into) an operatingsystem, and it allows for the creation of multiple software containers404A-404R (representing separate user space instances and also calledvirtualization engines, virtual private servers, or jails) that may eachbe used to execute a set of one or more applications; with fullvirtualization, the virtualization layer 408 represents a hypervisor(sometimes referred to as a virtual machine monitor (VMM)) or ahypervisor executing on top of a host operating system, and the softwarecontainers 404A-404R each represent a tightly isolated form of asoftware container called a virtual machine that is run by thehypervisor and may include a guest operating system; withpara-virtualization, an operating system and/or application running witha virtual machine may be aware of the presence of virtualization foroptimization purposes). Again, in electronic devices where computevirtualization is used, during operation, an instance of the software428 is executed within the software container 404A on the virtualizationlayer 408. In electronic devices where compute virtualization is notused, the instance 406 on top of a host operating system is executed onthe “bare metal” electronic device 400. The instantiation of theinstance 406, as well as the virtualization layer 408 and softwarecontainers 404A-404R if implemented, are collectively referred to assoftware instance(s) 402.

Alternative implementations of an electronic device may have numerousvariations from that described above. For example, customized hardwareand/or accelerators might also be used in an electronic device.

Example Environment

FIG. 4B is a block diagram of a deployment environment according to someexample implementations. A system 440 includes hardware (e.g., a set ofone or more server devices) and software to provide service(s) 442,including the resource sharing service. In some implementations thesystem 440 is in one or more datacenter(s). These datacenter(s) maybe: 1) first party datacenter(s), which are datacenter(s) owned and/oroperated by the same entity that provides and/or operates some or all ofthe software that provides the service(s) 442; and/or 2) third-partydatacenter(s), which are datacenter(s) owned and/or operated by one ormore different entities than the entity that provides the service(s) 442(e.g., the different entities may host some or all of the softwareprovided and/or operated by the entity that provides the service(s)442). For example, third-party datacenters may be owned and/or operatedby entities providing public cloud services (e.g., Amazon.com, Inc.(Amazon Web Services), Google LLC (Google Cloud Platform), MicrosoftCorporation (Azure)).

The system 440 is coupled to user devices 480A-480S over a network 482.The service(s) 442 may be on-demand services that are made available toone or more of the users 484A-484S working for one or more entitiesother than the entity which owns and/or operates the on-demand services(those users sometimes referred to as outside users) so that thoseentities need not be concerned with building and/or maintaining asystem, but instead may make use of the service(s) 442 when needed(e.g., when needed by the users 484A-484S). The service(s) 442 maycommunicate with each other and/or with one or more of the user devices480A-480S via one or more APIs (e.g., a REST API). In someimplementations, the user devices 480A-480S are operated by users484A-484S, and each may be operated as a client device and/or a serverdevice. In some implementations, one or more of the user devices480A-480S are separate ones of the electronic device 400 or include oneor more features of the electronic device 400.

In some implementations, the system 440 is a multi-tenant system (alsoknown as a multi-tenant architecture). The term multi-tenant systemrefers to a system in which various elements of hardware and/or softwareof the system may be shared by one or more tenants. A multi-tenantsystem may be operated by a first entity (sometimes referred to amulti-tenant system provider, operator, or vendor; or simply a provider,operator, or vendor) that provides one or more services to the tenants(in which case the tenants are customers of the operator and sometimesreferred to as operator customers). A tenant includes a group of userswho share a common access with specific privileges. The tenants may bedifferent entities (e.g., different companies, differentdepartments/divisions of a company, and/or other types of entities), andsome or all of these entities may be vendors that sell or otherwiseprovide products and/or services to their customers (sometimes referredto as tenant customers). A multi-tenant system may allow each tenant toinput tenant specific data for user management, tenant-specificfunctionality, configuration, customizations, non-functional properties,associated applications, etc. A tenant may have one or more rolesrelative to a system and/or service. For example, in the context of acustomer relationship management (CRM) system or service, a tenant maybe a vendor using the CRM system or service to manage information thetenant has regarding one or more customers of the vendor. As anotherexample, in the context of Data as a Service (DAAS), one set of tenantsmay be vendors providing data and another set of tenants may becustomers of different ones or all of the vendors' data. As anotherexample, in the context of Platform as a Service (PAAS), one set oftenants may be third-party application developers providingapplications/services and another set of tenants may be customers ofdifferent ones or all of the third-party application developers.

Multi-tenancy can be implemented in different ways. In someimplementations, a multi-tenant architecture may include a singlesoftware instance (e.g., a single database instance) which is shared bymultiple tenants; other implementations may include a single softwareinstance (e.g., database instance) per tenant; yet other implementationsmay include a mixed model; e.g., a single software instance (e.g., anapplication instance) per tenant and another software instance (e.g.,database instance) shared by multiple tenants.

In one implementation, the system 440 is a multi-tenant cloud computingarchitecture supporting multiple services, such as one or more of thefollowing types of services: Customer relationship management (CRM);Configure, price, quote (CPQ); Business process modeling (BPM); Customersupport; Marketing; External data connectivity; Productivity;Database-as-a-Service; Data-as-a-Service (DAAS or DaaS);Platform-as-a-service (PAAS or PaaS); Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IAASor IaaS) (e.g., virtual machines, servers, and/or storage); Analytics;Community; Internet-of-Things (IoT); Industry-specific; Artificialintelligence (AI); Application marketplace (“app store”); Data modeling;Security; and Identity and access management (IAM).

For example, system 440 may include an application platform 444 thatenables PAAS for creating, managing, and executing one or moreapplications developed by the provider of the application platform 444,users accessing the system 440 via one or more of user devices480A-480S, or third-party application developers accessing the system440 via one or more of user devices 480A-480S.

In some implementations, one or more of the service(s) 442 may use oneor more multi-tenant databases 446, as well as system data storage 450for system data 452 accessible to system 440. In certainimplementations, the system 440 includes a set of one or more serversthat are running on server electronic devices and that are configured tohandle requests for any authorized user associated with any tenant(there is no server affinity for a user and/or tenant to a specificserver). The user devices 480A-480S communicate with the server(s) ofsystem 440 to request and update tenant-level data and system-level datahosted by system 440, and in response the system 440 (e.g., one or moreservers in system 440) automatically may generate one or more StructuredQuery Language (SQL) statements (e.g., one or more SQL queries) that aredesigned to access the desired information from the multi-tenantdatabase(s) 446 and/or system data storage 450.

In some implementations, the service(s) 442 are implemented usingvirtual applications dynamically created at run time responsive toqueries from the user devices 480A-480S and in accordance with metadata,including: 1) metadata that describes constructs (e.g., forms, reports,workflows, user access privileges, business logic) that are common tomultiple tenants; and/or 2) metadata that is tenant specific anddescribes tenant specific constructs (e.g., tables, reports, dashboards,interfaces, etc.) and is stored in a multi-tenant database. To that end,the program code 460 may be a runtime engine that materializesapplication data from the metadata; that is, there is a clear separationof the compiled runtime engine (also known as the system kernel), tenantdata, and the metadata, which makes it possible to independently updatethe system kernel and tenant-specific applications and schemas, withvirtually no risk of one affecting the others. Further, in oneimplementation, the application platform 444 includes an applicationsetup mechanism that supports application developers' creation andmanagement of applications, which may be saved as metadata by saveroutines. Invocations to such applications, including the resourcesharing service, may be coded using Procedural Language/StructuredObject Query Language (PL/SOQL) that provides a programming languagestyle interface. Invocations to applications may be detected by one ormore system processes, which manages retrieving application metadata forthe tenant making the invocation and executing the metadata as anapplication in a software container (e.g., a virtual machine).

Network 482 may be any one or any combination of a LAN (local areanetwork), WAN (wide area network), telephone network, wireless network,point-to-point network, star network, token ring network, hub network,or other appropriate configuration. The network may comply with one ormore network protocols, including an Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE) protocol, a 3rd Generation PartnershipProject (3GPP) protocol, a 4^(th) generation wireless protocol (4G)(e.g., the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard, LTE Advanced, LTEAdvanced Pro), a fifth generation wireless protocol (5G), and/or similarwired and/or wireless protocols, and may include one or moreintermediary devices for routing data between the system 440 and theuser devices 480A-480S.

Each user device 480A-480S (such as a desktop personal computer,workstation, laptop, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), smartphone,smartwatch, wearable device, augmented reality (AR) device, virtualreality (VR) device, etc.) typically includes one or more user interfacedevices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, a trackball, a touch pad, a touchscreen, a pen or the like, video or touch free user interfaces, forinteracting with a graphical user interface (GUI) provided on a display(e.g., a monitor screen, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a head-updisplay, a head-mounted display, etc.) in conjunction with pages, forms,applications and other information provided by system 440. For example,the user interface device can be used to access data and applicationshosted by system 440, and to perform searches on stored data, andotherwise allow one or more of users 484A-484S to interact with variousGUI pages that may be presented to the one or more of users 484A-484S.User devices 480A-480S might communicate with system 440 using TCP/IP(Transfer Control Protocol and Internet Protocol) and, at a highernetwork level, use other networking protocols to communicate, such asHypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), AndrewFile System (AFS), Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), Network FileSystem (NFS), an application program interface (API) based uponprotocols such as Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), RepresentationalState Transfer (REST), etc. In an example where HTTP is used, one ormore user devices 480A-480S might include an HTTP client, commonlyreferred to as a “browser,” for sending and receiving HTTP messages toand from server(s) of system 440, thus allowing users 484A-484S of theuser devices 480A-480S to access, process and view information, pagesand applications available to it from system 440 over network 482.

Conclusion

In the above description, numerous specific details such as resourcepartitioning/sharing/duplication implementations, types andinterrelationships of system components, and logicpartitioning/integration choices are set forth in order to provide amore thorough understanding. The invention may be practiced without suchspecific details, however. In other instances, control structures, logicimplementations, opcodes, means to specify operands, and full softwareinstruction sequences have not been shown in detail since those ofordinary skill in the art, with the included descriptions, will be ableto implement what is described without undue experimentation.

References in the specification to “one implementation,” “animplementation,” “an example implementation,” etc., indicate that theimplementation described may include a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic, but every implementation may not necessarily include theparticular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrasesare not necessarily referring to the same implementation. Further, whena particular feature, structure, and/or characteristic is described inconnection with an implementation, one skilled in the art would know toaffect such feature, structure, and/or characteristic in connection withother implementations whether or not explicitly described.

For example, the figure(s) illustrating flow diagrams sometimes refer tothe figure(s) illustrating block diagrams, and vice versa. Whether ornot explicitly described, the alternative implementations discussed withreference to the figure(s) illustrating block diagrams also apply to theimplementations discussed with reference to the figure(s) illustratingflow diagrams, and vice versa. At the same time, the scope of thisdescription includes implementations, other than those discussed withreference to the block diagrams, for performing the flow diagrams, andvice versa.

Bracketed text and blocks with dashed borders (e.g., large dashes, smalldashes, dot-dash, and dots) may be used herein to illustrate optionaloperations and/or structures that add additional features to someimplementations. However, such notation should not be taken to mean thatthese are the only options or optional operations, and/or that blockswith solid borders are not optional in certain implementations.

The detailed description and claims may use the term “coupled,” alongwith its derivatives. “Coupled” is used to indicate that two or moreelements, which may or may not be in direct physical or electricalcontact with each other, co-operate or interact with each other.

While the flow diagrams in the figures show a particular order ofoperations performed by certain implementations, such order is exemplaryand not limiting (e.g., alternative implementations may perform theoperations in a different order, combine certain operations, performcertain operations in parallel, overlap performance of certainoperations such that they are partially in parallel, etc.).

While the above description includes several example implementations,the invention is not limited to the implementations described and can bepracticed with modification and alteration within the spirit and scopeof the appended claims. The description is thus illustrative instead oflimiting.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of resource sharing in a teleconference,the method comprising: detecting a presentation of a first resource by aparticipant of the teleconference; determining a locator for the firstresource, in response to the detecting of the first resource; generatinga functioning link to the first resource based on the locator; andsending the functioning link to the first resource to anotherparticipant to be displayed in a user interface of the teleconference.2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: detecting an enablement ofresource sharing.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:monitoring the teleconference to detect a presentation of a secondresource.
 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising: comparing thesecond resource to the first resource to confirm that the first resourceand second resource are separate resources.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein determining the locator for the first resource comprises:determining a uniform resource locator for the first resource.
 6. Themethod of claim 5, wherein determining the uniform resource locatorcomprises: determining a base of the uniform resource locator to utilizeas the locator for the first resource.
 7. The method of claim 1, whereinthe first resource is any one of a web page, a document, a slide show,an image, or a video.
 8. A non-transitory machine-readable storagemedium that provides instructions that, when executed by a set of one ormore processors, are configurable to cause the set of one or moreprocessors to perform operations for resource sharing in teleconferencescomprising: detecting a presentation of a first resource by aparticipant of a teleconference; determining a locator for the firstresource, in response to the detecting of the first resource; generatinga functioning link to the first resource based on the locator; andsending the functioning link to the first resource to anotherparticipant to be displayed in a user interface of teleconferencingsoftware.
 9. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim8, having further instructions stored therein that, when executed, causethe set of one or more processors to perform further operationscomprising: detecting an enablement of resource sharing.
 10. Thenon-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 8, havingfurther instructions stored therein that, when executed, cause the setof one or more processors to perform further operations comprising:monitoring the teleconference to detect a presentation of a secondresource.
 11. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium ofclaim 10, having further instructions stored therein that, whenexecuted, cause the set of one or more processors to perform furtheroperations comprising: comparing the second resource to the firstresource to confirm that the first resource and second resource areseparate resources.
 12. The non-transitory machine-readable storagemedium of claim 8, wherein determining the locator for the firstresource comprises: determining a uniform resource locator for the firstresource.
 13. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium ofclaim 12, wherein determining the uniform resource locator comprises:determining a base of the uniform resource locator to utilize as thelocator for the first resource.
 14. The non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium of claim 8, wherein the first resource is any one of aweb page, a document, a slide show, an image, or a video.
 15. Anapparatus comprising: a set of one or more processors; and anon-transitory machine-readable storage medium coupled to the set of oneor more processors that provides instructions that, if executed by theset of one or more processors, are configurable to cause the apparatusto perform operations comprising, detecting a presentation of a firstresource by a participant of a teleconference; determining a locator forthe first resource, in response to the detecting of the first resource;generating a functioning link to the first resource based on thelocator; and sending the functioning link to the first resource toanother participant to be displayed in a user interface of theteleconference.
 16. The apparatus of claim 15, the operations furthercomprising: detecting an enablement of resource sharing.
 17. Theapparatus of claim 15, the operations further comprising: monitoring theteleconference to detect a presentation of a second resource.
 18. Theapparatus of claim 17, the operations further comprising: comparing thesecond resource to the first resource to confirm that the first resourceand second resource are separate resources.
 19. The apparatus of claim15, wherein determining the locator for the first resource comprises:determining a uniform resource locator for the first resource.
 20. Theapparatus of claim 19, wherein determining the uniform resource locatorcomprises: determining a base of the uniform resource locator to utilizeas the locator for the first resource.
 21. The apparatus of claim 15,wherein the first resource is any one of a web page, a document, a slideshow, an image, or a video.